


21 Questions

by canyoufixthebroken



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Bakura has strong opinions, Everyone Has Issues, M/M, Slow Burn, Some Humor, Swearing, Thief King Bakura is Called Akefia, Yamis Have Their Own Body
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-25
Updated: 2020-08-14
Packaged: 2021-01-03 02:27:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 15,491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21171905
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/canyoufixthebroken/pseuds/canyoufixthebroken
Summary: Ryo decides to befriend the new kid at school, however intimidating he or his brother may be. Or his brother's friend, while we're at it.And so begins a game of 21 questions and Ryo's time as an apparent babysitter for Bakura.How fun.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This idea is a bit older and was originally posted on Wattpad, but I rewrote the thing and wanted to post it here!  
I've been writing in this fandom since 2013, though not on this platform, and wanted to get back into it after a break... so now you get this :)  
To clarify the names: I use the japanese versions and the Bakuras are called Bakura Ryo (the good one), Touzoku Bakura (Yami) and Touzoku Akefia (Thief King). Yami Marik will be Mariku and the less insane Marik will be called Malik :D

"Wake up, asshole!"

Bakura awoke groggily, staring toward the door and therefor, where a tanned man was standing with an awful stare of his own. He didn't give Bakura any time to respond, simply raising his eyebrows and snarling at him. "You have school."

The door was closed immediately after, just seconds before his alarm went off anyway and prompted him to sit up, grumbling while turning the machine off. "I know that, dumbass."

He let a hand run through his hair, stopping only when he found himself tangled in a loose ponytail - it had been tight the previous evening, but his hair always had a mind of its own. It had gotten so tangled, it had even pushed the hair tie down. 

Bakura managed to get a look at himself in the mirror across his room. It would have been an odd sight for any outsider, but Bakura often found himself sitting on his bed like this, hand tangled in his hair and the bags under his red eyes essentially black. The massive jetlag he'd been dealing with for the past three days didn't help his insomnia in the slightest, after all.

For a few seconds, he contemplated getting dressed. He'd still eat breakfast, so wearing his uniform already wasn't the best idea… but he also didn't want to deal with putting it on after breakfast.

So he quickly exchanged his pajamas with the blue suit pants and white button up, leaving the blazer on the bed and exiting his room for the kitchen.

He tugged on the hair tie, releasing his mane, and put on a frown deadly enough to scare anyone away.

Anyone but the tan man sitting at the kitchen table, that is. Because that man had a frown deadlier than death itself, able to intimidate even Bakura - their death glare was one the few traits they actually shared, besides their white hair.

Though even that wasn't completely true. Just like their glares being different, Akefia's hair was slightly grayish, unlike his own blinding white hair. But brothers didn't have to look alike, Bakura mused.

Akefia, also known as the man who had so unpleasantly awoken him, had laid the table as if to celebrate Bakura's start at this school. In the few days he'd been there, breakfast had consisted of bread, if anything at all. Or maybe it was to taunt him for the exact same reason, as if to say Akefia didn't have to deal with that kinda stuff anymore.

It was weird to think of Akefia making him scrambled eggs for breakfast, watch with how the older looked: a scar disfigured the right side of his face, stretching from the corner of his mouth to just above his eye. He had been lucky it hadn't damaged his eye, though Bakura couldn't remember how or when he'd gotten hat scar.

After all, they hadn't talked in a good six years.

His eyes shone a bright violet, though they had always been dull, even when Bakura had been a child. He was a scary person to look at if you didn't know him, and admittedly, he could still scare you if you knew him. But he was mostly harmless, nowadays.

"Sleep well?" The question was muffled by some bread and while it seemed to be a nice way of beginning a conversation, both of them understood the underlying sarcasm. "I made you eggs. Don't you like those?"

"Haven't liked them since mother gave us food poisoning. Jetlag hasn't gotten any better, either." They went back to ignoring each other, Akefia taking the plate with the eggs while Bakura resorted to some cereal brand he didn't know.

Usually, Akefia would have left by now, if the past three mornings were anything to go by. He worked at some grocery store from 8.30 am to 12 pm, then at a bar from 5pm to 2 am. He had a third job too, but only on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, so Bakura hadn't figured that one out yet. Still, despite his working hours, he was the last living relative willing to take him in.

And so now he was stuck with this weird brother of his, whom he hadn't seen in at least six year and didn't even share a father with.

Of course mother and father just had to die and leave him alone, resulting in his move to Japan. From Egypt to Japan wasn't only a big difference, but they were lucky his father had taught him the language - because Akefia sure as hell wasn't ever coming back to his home country. Much less to care for a younger brother he never acknowledged.

Well, at least he didn't care for what Bakura did, as long as he went to school regularly. And he hadn't been attached to his parents anyway, so the year he had to spend with Akefia before he turned 18 was something he could survive.

Hopefully.

~

At the same time Bakura was awoken, another alarm rang somewhere across town.

Only this alarm's owner was already awake and scrambling to turn the device off, so as to get back to finishing his latest project: a figurine of his father, made for art class instead of his game for once.

The topic had been their idol, though Ryo wouldn't really consider his father that. He was always working, sometimes for months and to the point of hospitalization. Even more so, when he was actually home, Ryo was practically invisible. But there was no one else he could think of for this specific assignment, so he settled with that.

With his project done, last second really, he made himself some quick breakfast in the kitchen and got dressed immediately after, leaving the exact same time as every day.

And as every other day, he met Yugi and the others on the way to school - or at least Anzu, as it wasn't always clear who of the boys would show up for school.

"Have you, by any chance, done the math homework, Bakura-kun?" Jounouchi asked in place of a greeting, earning him a slap on the head from Anzu. He put an arm around Ryo, as if to persuade him some more.

Honda was quick to reprimand Jonouchi for his laziness, though upon further questioning, he admitted he hadn't done it either. Lucky for them, Ryo was quick to help.

"Did you sleep okay?" Yugi asked when the two boys had gone over to bicker between them, smiling at his friend.

Ryo returned his smile, although it was shaky and the hand on the back of his head didn't do any good either. "Well, to be honest, I didn't sleep at all."

"Dude, you gotta sleep more," Jono piped in from behind him. "If you're sick, who's gonna do math for me?"

The were passing the gate now and laughed a bit, before Yugi picked up another topic. "So, what have you guys done for art?"

"Art?!" Honda lost his patience at Jonouchi's outburst, smacking him in the shoulder.

Anzu and Yugi giggled, while Ryo only smiled and patted his school bag. "A figurine of my father. What about you?"

"I drew my cousin," Yugi smiled. "He's coming to Japan soon because he wants to go to university here. Maybe you can meet him sometime - oh, maybe his twin will come too!"

They entered the classroom with Jobo and Honda still fighting, while Anzu brought out a small puppet. "I sewed a doll of my favorite dancer. Isn't it cute?"

The bell rang and the teacher entered, leaving everyone in a hurry to get to their desks. Unfortunately, this meant being separated from the group as Ryo sat in the far back.

Their math teacher was talking to someone when he entered, quickly followed by a boy with white hair.

Ryo was dumbfounded when he saw the stranger who looked so much alike him, that his jaw actually dropped and he could only imagine his own question going through everyone's mind: Is that some long lost relative?

"Class, let me introduce our new student, Touzoku Bakura-kun. Please give him a warm welcome." The monotone voice of the teacher did nothing to take away any tension or surprise, possibly for the first time the man had ever spoken. "Why don't you tell us about yourself?"

The boy, Touzoku, was looking rather annoyed. He had blazer open, just like the first few buttons of his shirt, and his hair was a mess. Much unlike Ryo's, which was rather fluffy, his seemed _pointy_, with bangs resembling bat wings. "My name is _Bakura_, and I'm from Egypt."

The teacher gave him a few more seconds to speak, but Bakura ignored him until he was given a seat next to Jono - whose greeting he promptly ignored, as well.

Furthermore, he completely ignored that the lesson had already begun, instead putting his head down on the table and seemingly falling asleep.

Ryo couldn't help but wonder what was wrong with this guy.


	2. Chapter 2

Ryo had already guessed that the girls would swarm Bakura during lunch. They had done the same to him on his first day, after all, and foreign students were always exciting he guessed.

Though you couldn't really tell Touzoku was foreign. He was curious of course, just like all his other friends, and was just waiting to actually ask the guy a question.

Well, Jono wasn't particularly fond of the new guy after his rejected greeting, but even he seemed to want answers. Not that it was likely they'd actually get the chance to ask Touzoku anytime soon.

The situation reminded Ryo of when he joined the class in middle school and Anzu had to interfere when the attention became to much for him. He was actually rather thankful that the girls had swarmed him back then - who knew if he would have gotten to be so close to Anzu and the group. Maybe Touzoku would be happy for a similar action, he mused.

But the attention didn't even seem to bother him. Touzoku was just sitting there with his head on the table, eyes closed. Didn't he want to eat?

Yugi next to him spoke up around then. "Wanna invite him to the roof or should we just go now?"

"Asking won't hurt," Jono decided, walking up to his new seat neighbor and promptly scaring some of the girls away. He had enough courage to tap Touzoku's shoulder, though judging by Jono's reaction, he had gotten a murderous glance. In the end, he came back to Yugi's table and shrugged. "Let's just go."

"It seems like it'll rain later," Anzu said when they finally arrived on the roof. Otogi was waiting there, waving when he spotted them. "I didn't bring an umbrella…"

"Me neither." Yugi was the first to sit down next to Otogi, who greeted them. "The forecast said it wouldn't rain until the late night, so I thought I wouldn't need one."

Jonouchi next to him sighed. "Well, at least you didn't come by bike. I'd get soaked even with an umbrella!"

Ryo laughed with the others, glad he had forgotten to take his umbrella out of his bag the previous day. Honda lived close by and could just run home, but the five of them all lived a bit away - Jonouchi the furthest, as he was the only one who couldn't just walk to school.

He wondered if the new kid had thought of bringing a raincoat or an umbrella.

"Maybe someone from my club can share with me," Yugi eventually said. "Hanasaki-kun is nice, so maybe he'll be okay with it."

"I'll have to bug Miho…" Anzu sighed and opened up her lunch box. "By the way, Ryo, is the teacher still bugging you about joining a club?"

"Yeah, unfortunately." He smiled a bit. It's not that he didn't want to join a club, but he was already not able to do the four hours of gym class a week the boys had to do - instead, he and the girls were stuck with home economics for two hours. And as most of the clubs centered around some kind of sport, he was rather unlucky.

Of course, he could join the art or theater club, but other than Yugi and Anzu being members they didn't really appeal to him either.

Jonouchi put an arm around him, huffing. "He should just drop it, damnit." Ryo decided to ignore the stolen cucumber piece that disappeared in Jonouchi's mouth.

Otogi then started ranting about the math teacher and his apparently incompetent teaching methods, everyone engaging in the heated discussion every now and then. Ryo was just happy to be there with them and didn't say much, until the first drops of rain hurried them back inside and toward their respective class rooms.

By then, Touzoku was sitting upright and looking down on his phone. The girls had dispersed and only occasionally threw glances toward him, clearly weirded out by his behavior. Ryo found himself curious whether his lookalike ate or not.

"Goodbye, Ryo." Anzu waved at him as she walked past the shod lockers, though the smile on her face vanished as she got to a stop. "Oh god, it's pouring."

"It's terrible, right? See you tomorrow, Anzu-chan." She moved on at that, breaking into a sprint for the theater club room.

Ryo made his way toward the small roof, a handful of students having done the same and now opening their umbrellas or deciding to run, some with their bags over their heads. And, lo and behold, Touzoku was there too.

The newbie was just staring toward the school gate, not ever looking to either side and ignoring the world around him. No umbrella was on him, or at least it looked that way, and for the first time that day Ryo noticed he didn't even have a bag with him. Odd, you usually got your books a day or two before you actually started school here.

It took quite a bit of convincing himself and mustering up the courage to speak, but eventually Ryo managed to get some words out. "Are you waiting for someone, Touzoku-kun?"

Red eyes turned toward him, fixating on his face. There were a few seconds where neither of them spook, they both simply stared and Ryo even found himself holding his breath. Then, Touzoku spoke. "No. And don't call me that."

Somehow, Ryo had expected an accent, despite having heard him talk earlier as well. Touzoku's japanese sounded flawless so far, as if he had spoken it for his entire life and never anything else.

"Well, what do you want to be called?" Was it normal to shake hands in Egypt? Ryo extended his hand anyways. "Bakura Ryo. Nice to officially meet you."

A scoff and arrogant look where sent his way - or at least it looked to be an arrogant one. "I said it already. Just Bakura. I'm not gonna call you that either, so get used to it."

"I understand. I mean, you're not trying to be mean when calling me by my first name, so it's totally alright." He pulled his hand back, his cheeks heatening out of embarrassment. "Did you not bring an umbrella? If we live close to each other we could share mine."

"What do you want?" Bakura's tone had shifted. Irritation was now clear and Ryo found himself intimidated. Not that that was much of an accomplishment with what a coward he was at times. "People like you always expect something in return."

"Excuse me? I'm being polite, nothing more."

Thunder sounded, making Ryo shudder.

"I'm not sharing anything with you. I'm not gonna end up in anyone's debt here."

While Ryo didn't really know what to say to that, he kind of understood where he was coming from. Maybe it was a cultural difference Bakura wasn't used to yet. "You're not gonna be in my debt, I assure you. I mean, you're new and I was trying to make you feel more welcome."

"Don't need that. You can fuck right off." He attempted stepping out into the rain, only for his leg to become soaked immediately and another thunder to sound. The expression on his face was uncertain and when Ryo quietly offered his umbrella again, Bakura scoffed once more. "Don't flatter yourself. I'm just agreeing because I hate rain."

They had come a good way already when Ryo noticed a crucial detail. "So, where do you live?"

"Near the hospital. Kyoto building or something."

He knew that! Ryo's face lit up for a second. "I live a bit further so that's perfect. Do you know why the building is named after Kyoto?"

"I don't care why," Bakura retaliated. He was holding the umbrella by then, having gotten annoyed at the smaller one for holding it too close to his head.

Ryo went on anyways. "The one who built it was from there and apparently really loved it. When he moved here, he built the complex and because it reminded him of the one he grew up in, he named it after the prefecture."

“I still don’t care. It’s a shitty place, nothing more.” Well, he couldn’t really disagree there. Since the previous owner had died, the building had become somewhat run down and the appartements had always been targeted to single households such as university students; definitely not a place you’d want to live at with a big family. Then again, did Bakura even live with his family? He could just be staying as a sort of exchange student, with his family supporting him from home.

The rain lightened up a bit when they crossed the hospital street, though there was still an occasional shock of lightning and thunder. Bakura kept looking at him from the side, though his glances weren’t as murderous as before. They were rather studying, as if he was trying to analyse the smaller without saying a word.

The silence quickly became awkward. It put a stone on Ryo’s heart, after all he hadn’t been able to make friends with Bakura and he even failed at making him feel welcome. Though, was that really his own fault? “Do you live with your family, Bakura-kun?”

Judging by the other’s facial expression, that was exactly the question he shouldn’t have asked. “Kind of.”

“Ah, sorry if that was uncalled for. You aren’t happy about moving, are you?”

“You ask too much, kid.” Bakura’s voice held a sneer. He clearly wasn’t too happy. “Just drop it.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's no real reason for Bakura's birthday being June 1st... I actually forgot that my own birthday is June 2nd until I had written half of this chapter and then noticed how close I made his oops  
Btw, Ryo's clumsiness is based on me lol

Bakura had to take a different way at some point and while it was only a street or so away, Ryo offered him his umbrella anyways. Of course the other didn't take it and with that, Bakura ran off, his clothes soaked through almost immediately.

It created silence, of course, and a sense of unease spread within Ryo when he thought about the newcomer some more. There were enough reasons for a question about parents to hurt, but which one applied to Bakura? He seemed to be the type of person to hate their parents for no reason, but a reason could of obviously exist. Or, while it wasn’t too common in Japan, his parents could have very well gotten a divorce and he had been forced to live with one of them, moving countries in the process.

Or they had died.

If Ryo could have gotten any more uncomfortable, he’d have probably dug his head into the street at that exact moment. He of all people should know how it felt to lose a parent.

The thought of apology settled in his mind almost instantly and he took a longer way simply to grab some stuff from the convenience store - a lunch would be enough, he figured.

Only that Bakura wasn’t there the next day, nor the day after.

Eventually, he offered to bring him the notes toward the end of the second day and promptly received an address, alongside a thank you from the homeroom teacher. It wasn’t often that students were missing, much less for more than a day, as Domino High was known not only for their grades, but the students’ attendance as well.

But Bakura was new and from another country on top of that, so Ryo wasn’t too surprised by it. The fact that Jonouchi and Honda occasionally skipped could have helped, but those two were somewhat of an exception in their year.

It wasn’t until he was already in front of the building that he thought about his decision some more. He still knew next to nothing about Bakura’s home life and if he’d get in trouble for him coming over unannounced, as well as if he’d even want him to bring the notes.

Also, none of the doorbells read ‘Touzoku’ and he got more worried by the second. He skimmed the board a fifth time, his eyes catching on the name ‘Kujaku’ for a second as he recognized it from somewhere. When he didn’t find a name resembling the one he was searching, he sighed and chalked it up to the teacher having gotten the information from. Maybe Bakura had meant a different building.

He was about to turn around and go home when an older woman came out of the building and took notice of him with a wary glance in his direction. After another second and glance, her face lightened up again. “If I may ask, what are you doing here, young man?”

“I’m bringing some notes,” he said with a polite bow. He didn’t want to trouble the woman for nothing, convinced by the fact that Bakura had given the wrong address, but he got himself to ask at least something. “Do you perhaps know of a student that’s supposed to live here?”

She put her bags down and smiled, a sour tinge to it. “The one that looks a lot like you? I’d have guessed you were siblings. Wouldn’t be surprising, Akefia-san didn’t mention any family until that… kid showed up.”

Was Akefia his mother’s maiden name? He had seen that name on the board and it was unlikely he had a different name than his father. A maiden name just sounded more plausible. “Yes. Is he home?”

“Oh, I don’t know.” She shook her head along her words. Something behind him caught her eyes and she lit up, waving at someone. When Ryo turned around, he saw a man in walking toward them, face obscured by a hat and a scarf. “You’re in luck, dear. Good afternoon, Akefia-san!”

Not a maiden name then. The man gave a quick wave before he walked over, a large scar now identifiable on the right side of his face as he got closer. He was eyeing Ryo cautiously. “Hello. What are you doing here?”

“Um,” Ryo mumbled. Akefia was surely mistaking him for Bakura and judging by the intimidating aura, he should change that quickly. “I’m delivering notes to Touzoku-kun.”

The look of repressed anger disappeared, quickly merging into furrowed brows and a clearly confused look. “Bakura should have been at school.”

“Oh.”

The woman next to them sighed and shook her head. “What a troublesome kid, I can already tell. Ah, I have to go, see you around.”

“Yes, of course.” Akefia smiled at her lazily, the scarf now pushed down, and turned back to Ryo afterwards. “Come in.”

When he was little and had stayed in Domino for a while, a friend of his had lived in the Kyoto building. It had been a bit prettier than it was today and Ryo remembered the hallways always being comfortably warm or cold, depending on the seasons.

Now, the staircase was only exposed cement and was awfully cold. For a minute it even felt colder than outside.

It was sad how much this building had changed in not even 10 years.

As much as the building was sad, the walk up the stairs was oddly terrifying. Akefia didn’t speak and he made no further indication of even wanting him here; instead there was a quiet anger around him, like static right before lightning hit somewhere close. It also didn’t help that he absolutely couldn’t place the other in an age category, much less guess his relationship to Bakura.

Akefia was shorter than Ryo, which was already a bit odd, but his face seemed mature enough for an adult. Adding onto that, he moved with a sort of confidence Ryo hardly noticed in teenagers and even though he wore a thick coat, His build appeared slightly muscular and too well defined for a minor.

If he really had to guess, Ryo would have said he was a cousin or brother, a very young father at most.

As lost in thought as he was, he nearly ran straight into Akefia when he stopped to unlock a door on the third floor. Maybe Bakura was living with his aunt and this was his cousin; it would at least explain why Akefia’s skin was a lot darker than Bakura’s.

Inside looked about as inviting as the staircase, only that instead of cement walls, an ugly red wallpaper could be found. The furniture looked out of place and nothing really fit together and besides some messy spots he saw in the living room, it looked extremely… unpersonal.

Akefia took his shoes off and went further into the small corridor, gifting Ryo of no further glances. He remained in front of the door, already searching through his bag for the notes, when Akefia suddenly yelled. “Get out here, now.”

Some shuffling sounded and a door opened to the right side of the corridor, hidden so it couldn’t be seen from the doorway. White hair appeared - not only with Bakura’s appearance, but underneath Akefia’s head as well when he finally took it off. So they at least shared some genes, he assumed. “What?” Bakura finally asked, staring the other down. He hadn’t noticed Ryo yet.

“You weren’t at school I heard.” The contained anger in his voice was enough to make Bakura slightly shrink in on himself. Akefia looked perfectly calm and with his height he probably had a hard time being this intimidating, but even without knowing him, Ryo knew that tone meant trouble. “You didn’t seem sick when I left.”

It was then that Bakura finally noticed him, his face scrunched up furiously. Maybe he should have just stayed quiet when the teacher asked for someone to bring the notes.

Akefia switched to a different language, Arabic most likely, and while he wasn’t shouting, his voice were poison. He eventually pointed toward Ryo, speaking another few words and then came back to Japanese. “I have to go change. Excuse me.”

“Damn snitch,” Bakura sneered when the other had left. His face was scary to look at but surprisingly, Akefia’s had been a heck of a lot scarier. “If I don’t go to school, don’t fucking come to my place.”

“Sorry.” It was almost too quiet to be heard, but Ryo got the words out along with the notebook that he held out in front of him. “I was asked to bring you the notes.”

“Next time wait until I go back to school.” Bakura’s voice almost sounded like a hiss and he practically pulled the notebook out of his hands with no further regard.

He was about to turn around and return to his room when Akefia rounded the corner again. “How about next time not existing?”

“Fuck off, you’re not my mom.” He pushed past the older, who yelled something in Arabic again. There was no reply and so Akefia turned to him.

“You live around here?” He barely waited for Ryo to nod, buttoning up his shirt while he spoke. “How about making sure the kid goes to school? I leave well before he does, it’d be great if you could get him in the mornings.”

He nodded again, unable to speak. For one, he was confused: The sudden change in attitude, the request in general and how he was supposed to get Bakura to come along with him. But he nodded and that meant he had accepted the task - even if it was only out of politeness.

Akefia went back into the other bedroom at the end of the hallway and came back a minute later with a different pair of shoes in hands and a small bag. “I’ll walk you out.” He turned toward Bakura’s door once more.”I’m off, I’ll be back at midnight.”

~

When Ryo got home later that day he began making dinner almost immediately. An e-mail from his father answered a question he had asked when Bakurao had joined their class, swiftly answering it with _no, we don’t have relatives in Egypt_.

The water for his noodles had already begun boiling when he changed into his normal clothes while the sauce was cooking and he found himself waiting at the table. The sound of his phone quickly provided a distraction and he picked it up without much thought, looking through the few notifications he had while waiting for his food.

At first he only read through the block of messages the class group had spammed, especially Jonouchi who had just managed to afford a new cell phone, but when that got boring he opened the Instagram app for what felt like the first time in ages.

It wasn’t that he didn’t use his phone or anything, but he had never been one for social media. That’s why the lack of notifications here wasn’t anything special, considering he only followed the few of his friends and his dad (why ever that man needed Instagram), but what did surprise him was when he looked at the suggested profiles.

There, nearly unrecognizable as him, was Bakura in the small profile picture. On any other day he’d have probably been freaked out by Instagram apparently knowing who he knew in real life, but he quickly noticed a few of his friends following the new guy - most likely due to the fact his profile was public and how he hadn’t posted in roughly a year.

Upon closer inspection, the profile picture was a simple picture of Bakura leaning against the railing of a bridge. Ryo could guess as much because the picture had also been posted separately, no caption beneath and about 17 likes. There were a few comments, however, like a few of the girls from school who had followed him complimenting him.

The most curious one was of someone with the username _’fabmal’_. Ryo decided not to question it, despite the person asking for picture credit.

Weirdly enough, even that comment was in Japanese.

Besides that, nothing much was on the profile. The bio was empty, he followed only four people and the only other pictures were of some places in Egypt.

But some weird urge to find out more about Bakura made him click on the ‘Follow’ part again. The first two were some bands Ryo didn’t recognize, but he could make the third out to be Akefia (_’akefia.touz’_ was quite obvious, after all) and the last one was the commenter from earlier. Akefia’s profile was almost as empty as his brother’s, though, the only three picture having been taken in what appeared to be a club, the appartement and some kind of gathering. Bakura was partially in the newest one at that gathering, though he looked as unhappy as ever and was playing with a knife if Ryo could see correctly.

The one at the bar didn’t show a sign of Bakura, while the last photo - a simple picture of the door and hallway - read something in Arabic below it. According to Google, it meant something along the lines of ‘Welcome’.

Eventually, Ryo moved on to the other guy: who, while he didn’t have a profile picture, had a whole bunch of pictures. Most of them selfies, even.

The bio told his name, Malik, and that he was about the same age as Ryo, making him 16 as well. After quite some strolling, he was about to give up and admit this sudden burst of stalking was a bit weird, when he saw a familiar head of white flipping off the camera. Next to him was Malik, all toned skin and pretty features, with an arm around the other’s shoulders and the other extended to take the picture. This time, the text was in Arabic and other than a happy birthday message, Ryo couldn’t decipher much from the translation he got.

At least it told him to watch out for June 1st, when Bakura would turn 17. It was December now and it wouldn’t be Ryo if his mind didn’t already worry about a present. _Ridiculous,_ his mind gracefully provided.

Other than that picture, there was an occasional glance at Bakura, but nothing much. One of the oldest ones showed him again and while Ryo pat himself on the back for scrolling this far without actually liking anything by accident, he noticed the suits both were wearing: Reminiscent of a school uniform. They were in what appeared to be a home office or a small library, the picture clearly taken from under the table and, according to the caption, Malik had almost been caught by the Japanese tutor.

For whatever reason they had to learn Japanese? And with a tutor, no less.

Ryo only noticed how caught up he’d been in his semi stalking when the water boiled over and he was finally reminded of his food. The phone was quickly thrown onto the table as he tried saving what he could, getting some hot water on his hand in the process.

After he quickly put everything onto the table he finally held his left hand under the sink, cursing himself for being so careless.

Despite the pain, he eventually forced himself to eat. His phone made a few sounds every now and then, mostly the group chat again and another email from his father asking if he’d gotten the money for this month.

There wasn’t much motivation left in him after the mishap and so after the few pieces of homework he had were done, Ryo loosely wrapped his hand in some bandages and went to bed, dreading the next day and the inevitable question of what had happened to his hand.  
Oh, yeah, picking Bakura up was also something he was dreading.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next time: Bakura's PoV, a blond psychopath and another blond that can't stop teasing our favorite kitty.  
Also, there's another kitty besides Bakura :)


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Would you like shorter chapters that take me less time or longer ones that can take a lot longer?  
Zorc is the the Touzoku brothers' father here, btw

It wasn’t as if Bakura had been home the entire time he skipped school.

It would’ve just been a bit hard to explain the fact he had tried getting in touch with some rather shady people down at the pier in hope of making some extra cash. Maybe Akefia would have been a bit more lenient if he knew about it, but then again… Akefia had left Egypt to escape crime.

Roughly an hour after the scolding he was warming up some leftovers and thinking the day over. There was no remorse or anything, Bakura didn’t particularly care about missing school - it wasn’t as if he intended to live past 25 at most. He did however feel just the slightest bit bad about his actions because of Akefia. It was hard to completely distance yourself from someone you trusted and even with all the hurt Akefia’s sudden disappearance had caused him back then, Bakura still found himself caring about the other’s thoughts.

Was it those crimes that had given Akefia his scar? Bakura didn’t remember, but he assumed it must have been the reason. Shit, now he did feel bad. Damn feelings.

The noodles had tasted awful even before his thinking, but now they tasted even worse. Bakura had hated everything he had tried so far and unfortunately, it wasn’t because his brother was a bad cook. He was decent enough at it, but Bakura disliked the general taste of what he had tried and honestly, he missed Egyptian food.

Hell, he even missed Malik.

With a sour taste in his mouth he threw the food away and went to his room, flopping down onto the bed. It was too soft and the sheets were scratchy; so unlike what his bed had been like back home. As with the food and everything else so far, he hated it.

Bakura came to the conclusion he simply hated Japan.

He didn’t even understand how Akefia got the idea of moving there. It was their parent’s home country - excluding Akefia’s mother, of course - but other than that and being forced to learn Japanese, they had no connection. Bakura remembered tagging along on a business trip to England and France when he was little, but never Japan. Father only went there alone.

Maybe it was to spite them. Him, really, because Akefia had gotten along with his step-mother just fine.

Bakura shook his head, pushing his nose further into the pillow by doing so. This was ridiculous, he didn’t care about any of it.

With a huff, he picked up his phone. A distraction was more than welcome at that specific moment, though he outright ignored all the notifications he’d gotten from Instagram over the day. There was a skype message from Malik, which caught his eye, as well as one from Atemu. Surprisingly, as Yami had made it clear how much he hated Bakura more than once.

Atemu was mostly civil, though. He harbored some anger toward Akefia for something that had happened before Bakura was old enough to remember, but he had never taken that out on Bakura. He simply asked how the move had been and if he was getting along well, which Bakura ignored, because he didn’t want to talk about it. At least not with Atemu.

Meanwhile, Malik was talking about someone who had apparently almost run him over.

_TO MALIK: I got excited until I read ‘almost’._

_FROM MALIK: Nah, u didn’t ;) So, is anyone dead yet?_

_TO MALIK: I almost killed that ass, you idiot. My biggest crime was physical assault._

He could hear someone stomping around in the apartment above. He was tempted to punch the ceiling, but who knew what kind of person lived up there.

_FROM MALIK: Whateeeever, Fluffy. Found any cuties for me?_

_TO MALIK: You live on the other side of the world. And I told you not to call me that._

Another set of footsteps had joined in and Bakura could only hope he wouldn’t have to hear something worse over the night. Malik took a while to respond, so Bakura went to search for a broom. Maybe he could shove a paper under the door telling them to shut up if things got bad. 

_FROM MALIK: Don’t be like that kitty (I might be coming to Japan btw, Ishizu wants my help with some curator stuff??)_

_TO MALIK: Stay where you are_

_FROM MALIK: … She’ll send me to a boarding school if I don’t come along :(_

_TO MALIK: Fuck off_

What was it about everyone coming to Japan now? It wasn't even that Ishizu trusted Akefia enough for Malik to be in the same country as him. She didn’t hate him but still deemed him irresponsible.

Also, who knew what had happened to the Ishtars' cousin; he’d come to Japan with Akefia, after all. And Ishizu definitely hated his guts.

~

Bakura had fallen asleep around then, so he woke up to not only about a dozen messages from Malik, but also a door slamming and Akefia shushing someone.

Now, for a second, he thought it could’ve been a girlfriend or something, but why would he bring someone here?

Or a colleague, but why would he just bring those home?

When something in the corridor crashed and shattered, he finally got his ass out of the bed and toward the door. He quickly regretted that as he opened said door because a mess of blond hair greeted him, alongside one of the few picture frames broken on the floor.

Had it been any other person, Bakura would have probably asked what was going on, but as he was faced with a certain Mariku Ishtar, he simply shut the door as fast as he could and leaned against it with the whole weight of his body.

He wasn’t about to deal with Malik’s psychotic cousin at what must have been one in the morning. Actually, he’d rather not deal with him, ever.

There had always been the possibility of seeing him. Akefia and Mariku had always been somewhat close and they had left together - run away, he should say, but Bakura didn’t like calling it that - but he had thought to be safe after successfully avoiding him for almost a week. Seems he was wrong.

He had expected the door to be pushed open by Mariku, but there was no movement on the other side besides Akefia telling Mariku to clean up the mess he made. In Arabic, no less, which Akefia had only used once so far - to scold and call him an idiot so Ryo wouldn’t know what he was saying.

It seemed Akefia was ignored, as a sigh travelled through the thin walls. “_Just go to bed._”

The door to Akefia’s room was opened and closed, a knock on his own door merely seconds later. Mariku was humming in the room over, so it could have only been Akefia.

He let his brother in with a scowl on his face, arms crossed in front of his chest. “Why is he here?”

“He’ll be here for a while.”

“Not what I asked. You know, if you wanna punish me, just punch me or some shit,” Bakura snarled in response.

Akefia didn’t even flinch, stepping into the room and closing the door. “He got kicked out so I’m letting him stay. You okay with that?”

“What do you care?” It wasn’t like Bakura’s opinion ever mattered. “You’re just gonna let him even if I say no.”

“I’m not Zorc.”

There was silence between them and for a second, Bakura didn’t know who the other was talking about. He eventually recognized their father’s name and for another second, he wanted to punch Akefia because he didn’t _know_ what the man had been like.

Then he remembered how Akefia had been treated. It wasn’t a way of metaphorically punching him in the gut, it was a sign of understanding.

Bakura turned around and sat on the bed, facing away from his brother on purpose. “I don’t care as long as he leaves me alone.” Because it was Akefia’s place, not his, and he didn’t wanna risk actually pissing him off.

“He’ll be gone the same times as me. I’ll be on the sofa if you need me.”

~

The rain had slowly begun to turn into snow overnight with a slight dusting coating the roofs when Ryo left the building that morning.

His day had started by texting Yugi he wouldn’t be meeting up with them as usual and forcing down some breakfast at the same time, all sped up due to the fact he had overslept only the slightest bit.

So Ryo found himself almost running until he remembered his promise to Akefia. A deep sigh escaped him as he took a different turn than usually and went to ring the doorbell soon after. He still didn’t understand why it said Akefia’s first name.

He got nervous when no one opened, because maybe Bakura had left already or just wouldn’t come out at all. It was probably a second until he would have just left when the door did open, Bakura in front of him with a glare deadly enough to kill a normal person. Luckily enough, Ryo had survived Ushio’s glare before. He was used to this kinda stuff.

Today, Bakura had a bag over his shoulder, though Ryo guessed it wasn't his choice to take it. It was a bit concerning that it was a sports bag and, judging by the shape, filled with mostly sportswear. At least they did have PE today.

"Have you gotten your books yet?" Ryo had spoken before he thought about it. Bakura's glance was enough to make him regret his choice.

"Yeah."

They walked in silence for quite a bit, but Ryo couldn't handle it much longer at some point. "Uh, do you have a favorite subject yet?"

"I don't give a fuck about school." 

Ryo tried not to show his surprise (or rather his disliking of Bakura's language) but if the change of expression in Bakura's eyes was anything to go by, he had failed miserably. It was unnerving to see the look he gave him, filled with what seemed to be victory and even joy at throwing him off.

Maybe a question about something else would produce better results. "What do you care about, then? Do you have any hobbies?"

"Nah." He went back to being bored, staring straight ahead as the school building came into view. The gate was still open and Karita wasn't in sight, so Ryo took it as a good sign. "Even if, why the fuck would I tell you?"

"Because we're classmates, I'd say." A snowflake landed on Ryo's nose. As if it had whispered something to him, he remembered what Bakura had said the day prior. "Will you tell me if you get something in exchange?"

"Like what?"

If the other were to insist on money he'd have to give up. He wasn't going to pay to have a conversation with someone. "I could give you information about me in return. That way neither of us can use it against the other, right?"

"Oh, so there is a brain in your head," Bakura answered, grinning slightly. "My hobby is knifes. Not cooking, just knives."

"Ah, I like knives to, I guess." He smiled hesitantly. "I craft a lot, especially with wood. A good knife can be useful."

No acknowledgement as they passed the gate, the last few stray students coming in behind them. Bakura kept walking when Ryo stopped at his locker.

They didn't speak again until lunch when Bakura apparently decided to take a far away corner of the roof for himself. Speaking probably wasn't the right word either as they asked him once if he wanted to join them and didn't say anything further.

Yugi, meanwhile, had news. "Remember my cousins? Well, I know when they're gonna come here now."

"Cool, when?" Jonouchi was gulping down his lunch while speaking, causing Anzu to slap him on the shoulder. He grinned apologetically in response.

"Wednesday next week. They're both coming, apparently something with the museum here caught the other one's eye", Yugi said. "You know anything about that, Ryo?"

He thought for a few seconds. His father hadn't said anything about the museum in a while, not since the exhibition last changed. "If you want me to I could ask dad for some info."

"That'd be amazing! My cousins don't wanna tell me anything." He pouted, though his smile quickly returned, even brighter than before. "Would you guys want to come along when I go pick them up? We're taking the train anyway."

"For sure, Yug," Jono cheered with Honda agreeing.

Anzu, of course, was coming along as well. Otogi didn't look so sure, though. "I have to ask my dad. I mean, after school to the airport? It's gonna be dark when we get back." He laughed a little. "Ya know how he can get, yeah? I'm his only child, after all."

"Ah, yeah, I'll have to ask as well," Anzu responded, small smile still in place. Jono and Honda loudly bragged about how they were allowed to be outside until god knows when, when Anzu turned to Ryo while shaking her head a little. "And you?"

"Well, I guess I don't have anything else to do, so I might as well join you." He tore his melon bun in half after he spoke, smile always on his face. Honda laughed at his phrasing, while Otogi playfully told him off.

The topic changed after that, going over to the forgotten assignments of the day among other things. Every now and then Honda or Jonouchi yelled over to Bakura and tried to have him join the conversation, but beyond one or two small comments they didn't get anything out of him and eventually gave up.

It was Otogi who was last to speak to him before lunch break was over. "Hey, wanna join us for the airport next week?”

But Bakura only scoffed and ignored them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why is Bakura's father important enough to have been on business trips? Well... My explanation for that is, simply put, that Bakura (a mixture of Zork and the Thief King) is rich here because he's quite powerful in the original, while the Thief King had to grow up in poverty and only got some sort of power from Zork pretty late on. So, their father here is somewhat rich, while Akefia's mother... Oh well, she's a story all of her own.
> 
> Next time: Kitty #2 finally shows up!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy new year's eve! If you live somewhere that let's you make your own fireworks, please wait until midnight because the kids in my village are annoying me already haha  
Hope y'all have an awesome new year/decade and let's see if I'm finally gonna realize that 2013 was not 2 years ago.

It was Friday morning when Ryo was sick of walking in silence each morning. It was either Bakura talked to him or his friends were coming along.

“The fuck is 21 Questions?” Bakura mumbled from behind his scarf, hidden away from the cold. They were well into December and the weather was getting colder and wetter by the day.

By now, Ryo was already used to Bakura’s speaking manners as much as he was to the weather. “An ice breaker game. I ask you a question, you ask me one, and so forth until we have each asked 21 questions. It’s basically exchanging information, so it should be okay.”

The other huffed. It was the first day he was really carrying a bookbag, which had surprised Ryo a great deal. “Whatever. If I don’t want to, I won’t answer, got it?”

“Fantastic.” Ryo smiled from behind his own scarf. He was holding an umbrella to keep his hair dry and away from the snow, while Bakura wasn’t concerned about it beyond covering as much skin as possible. “So, what would you put on your grave stone?”

“That’s… fucking weird to ask. Morbid, even.” A sensible response, as Ryo thought. “I’d write fuck you on it. Just to piss everyone off.”

“Expected.”

Bakura rolled his eyes. “Whatever. Anything people think is true about you but is actually utter bullshit?”

“People assume I don’t eat a lot because I’m skinny. I can probably win against Jonouchi in competitive eating.” He had already won against him, to be exact. Twice.

His joke didn’t land, though. “Who?”

“The loud blond? Who sits next to you?” When a shrug was the answer, Ryo resigned. “Favorite movie?”

“Don’t watch any,” he responded. His voice was not only muffled, but also turned into coughing as he seemingly inhaled some scarf fibers. He caught himself when they turned into the street of the school. “God, fuck this weather. How can you wear that shit?”

Ryo looked down at his clothes, frowning. His coat was thick enough for winter and while he was wearing sneakers, he couldn’t help but question what the other meant. “Because a little cold won’t hurt me. Hm.. What do you think parents shouldn’t teach their kids anymore?”

The mistake Ryo had made became clear as day when Bakura stopped walking and stared at him for a few seconds. It was almost as if the only sound for those seconds were the distant traffic and the falling snowflakes, though Ryo knew that wasn’t true. Students were walking past them, chatting and laughing, but something about Bakura’s eyes pulled him away from that reality for that short moment.

What was the worst thing about it was that Ryo knew that look. He’d seen it on his father all those years ago; empty eyes that spoke of hurt deeper than anyone could understand.

It was gone in an instant, instead replaced by a scowl and a low noise emitting from Bakura’s scarf.

Bakura didn’t talk to him for the rest of the day.

Yugi mentioned a christmas party during cleaning time, planned for the 24th when his mother and grandfather would be on vacation. The excitement lightened up the mood as Ryo was pushing the broom around the classroom, while most of the class had already gone to their clubs - including Bakura, who had left to go home.

“Anything we should bring?” Honda asked. He was about to pick up his bag and leave, Jonouchi doing the same. Soccer practise was starting soon. “Snacks, movies?”

“We could do a secret santa!” Anzu had been tasked with cleaning the blackboard, now she was sat on her desk and watching them work. “We’d just have to know who comes, then.”

Jonouchi swung his bag over his shoulder, grinning. “Or we all bring a gift and then everyone gets to choose one randomly. Sound good?”

“Surprisingly, yes,” Otogi laughed. He was putting the chairs onto the tables and mimicked hitting Jono wit the one he was holding currently. “Let me hit you, we gotta correct the universe. If you can say something smart our world might be ending.”

“Hell no, I can’t miss training because you gave me a concussion! Honda, we’re leaving, now!” Jono was out the door in seconds, Honda following suit. He put his head around the corner a final time. “I’ll bring Shizuka, by the way!”

With that, they were gone, leaving the four of them in the room. Otogi hummed as he turned the last chair over, a grin on his lips. “His idea isn’t even that stupid. We could probably do it at my place if yours is too small or anything.”

“It’ll be alright, but thanks.” They got their bags and left the room, Otogi hurrying off to get home as fast as he could. Yugi and Anzu went to their respective club rooms, while Ryo was left to walk through the rain. It had been snowing until about an hour ago and he couldn’t help but think the world might have been punishing him for something.

The rain got worse right around the time Ryo had finished his detour to the convenience store, the paper bag he carried soaked through within seconds, and he could only sigh at the weather.

His umbrella was quickly opened and held firmly in place, but the damage was already done. It wasn’t as if his uniform never got dirty or wet but he had really hoped to wait until Saturday to wash it as it was one of the harder pieces of clothing to wash.

With a shake of his head he discarded the thought and instead, tried coming up with a gift for the party. Duel Monsters cards were a safe bet, but unoriginal and maybe even a bit unfitting for a christmas present. Even more so, Anzu didn’t really play the game all that much and Otogi was more interested in DDM.

Maybe a scarf or a mug, something useful in everyday life, but wasn’t that boring as well?

Ryo sighed at the exact moment a fragile sound reached his ears. It sounded again when he came to a halt, a bit louder this time around, and when he looked down, he saw a small box.

Now, Ryo had seen some movies in his lifetime and a kitten in a box was a plot he had seen enough times in his childhood. He hadn’t thought it happened in real life, but there it was, a small white kitten in a cardboard box that was close to caving in on itself due to the rain.

As big black eyes looked up at him, he couldn’t help but scoop the little thing up.

Back home, he almost immediately regretted taking the little thing with him.

Not only had he no idea what cats were allowed to eat, much less a kitten, but he didn’t have anything a cat needed in general. Another trip to the convenience store left him with some cat food (and by god, he hoped this was the right one) and some advice from a lovely elderly lady that had seen him clueless in the aisle.

So now he was sitting in the kitchen, his own food cooking while he watched the cat eat off a little plate he’d put on the floor. He’d probably ask his friends the next day if they would be able to take care of the kitten but for today, he was a bit too tired to text them.

Didn’t mean he could just ignore his phone because he had of course promised the others to talk to his dad about the museum. “How’s work going?”

“Great. Every time I come here I get surprised by how much more there is to learn,” he replied, laugh following. The connection was especially bad that evening. “How’s school? Do I have to worry about any grades?”

“No, not at all. School is going great.” An awkward silence ensued like most of the time they talked. It took Ryo quite a while to finally break it. “Can I ask you something about the museum?”

“Sure.”

He went to stir the food before he spoke again. “Apparently, my friend’s cousin is gonna be working here because of an exhibition. Can I ask what it’s about?”

The call was disturbed by some static though it ended quickly enough. “Ah, we were gonna announce that soon anyways. This woman approached me and offered to hold an exhibition on ancient egypt and how could I say no to that? Some of her friends I suppose offered to do tours, you know, as representatives of their country’s history. Cool, isn’t it?”

“Very. Do you need help with setting it up or anything?” Ryo was used to helping out at the museum, especially if his father couldn’t be there or something.

He was declined, though. “If anything, you could make a panorama again or something. Remember when you did that for this middle ages european style town in middle school?”

“Sure. When should it be done?” 

“February.”

~

Friday was even colder as the winter reached its peak, the cold creeping under Ryo’s skin with every second he spent outside.

Akefia left around the same time as he went to pick Bakura up that day and almost immediately offered to drive them if it got too late but Ryo declined out of politeness. Had Bakura known about the offer and his refusal to accept it, he’d have probably ripped Ryo’s head off.

But as he didn’t know about it, Ryo was safe as he walked next to his classmate. Or as safe as someone could _feel_ next to him. “There’ll be an exhibit on ancient egypt at the museum in a bit.”

“So?” Bakura asked, voice barely audible from behind the scarf. It was as if he added a new layer each day, today a pair of thick gloves had found its way onto his hands. The scarf had also been replaced for an even thicker one.

With however quiet the answer had been, though, Ryo had heard the annoyed tone. “I thought you might be interested. Not just because you’re from Egypt, I mean, I just think that kinda stuff is interesting in general…”

“I don’t care about history or any of that shit.” He glanced at Ryo for a second. “It’s just a bunch of dead people and stones.”

He didn’t know how to answer that, so Ryo shrugged and was silent for a few minutes. However, as always, he couldn’t bare the lack of conversation for long. “Want to continue our game?”

“I don’t give a shit.”

“Um, well, do you know what you want to work as in the future?” The teacher had announced the job training the day prior, so it was a valid question, he thought.

But Bakura shrugged. “Whatever job I get. You sound like you’re gonna do some history shit.”

He laughed a little. Yeah, that was a common thing people thought, especially if they knew about his dad. “Oh, no. My father would like that but it’s not like I’m that interested in it.”

“What else then?” Bakura asked, watching the clouds his breath made every time the scarf let his mouth show.

Sure, Ryo knew what he _wanted_ to be, but he also knew how stupid the idea actually sounded. He remembered Amane laughing about it when he had first voiced it, exclaiming proudly how she’d become a doctor. Much more, he remembered sitting there and lighting some incense, promising his mother to become a doctor too.

He remembered pressing his hands together, hoping she’d hear him, and telling her he’d be a doctor and make Amane wake up. It was a promise he wasn’t willing to break just yet, but he could still say what he would like to do, right? “Maybe I’ll go into medicine. I know it sounds stupid, but I’m also interested in games so maybe I’m gonna be a game designer or something if it doesn’t work out, you know, like Yugi wants to be.”

“Who?” Bakura didn’t really care about the name, he could definitely see that in his face, but Ryo appreciated that he didn’t make fun of him for it.

“The small guy I spend time with. He’s in our class.”

“Ah. Suits a nerd like you.” Apparently, he had spoken to soon.

“At least I have a plan.” Ryo caught himself as soon as he said it, a blush of embarrassment crossing his face. “I didn’t mean that. Sorry.”

Bakura scoffed. “Stop being so apologetic, it’s fucking annoying. What kinda games?”

“Mostly tabletop RPGs, I guess. Have you heard of Monster World?” The question had immediately brightened Ryo’s mood. Any opportunity to talk about his favorite games was a win in his eyes.

Bakura’s answer, however, left him a bit speechless. “Nah. I don’t play games.”

“Really? Not even Duel Monsters?”

“Was never allowed to, never cared about that shit anyways.” He shrugged again, walking ahead through the school gates.

Ryo followed, right on his heel. Something about Bakura made him sound sad. Maybe it was a bigger deal than he’d like to admit because Ryo couldn’t imagine living a happy childhood without games. “You can come over and play Monster World with me sometimes, if you’d like. Or Duel Monsters. It’s really fun.”

“Life’s not about fun.”

“Life is about what you make it.” He mumbled before they parted ways to get to their lockers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next time: Cousins, annoying friends and airports


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All I can say is I'm sorry for my long abscense.  
I'll try to get back on track.

Bakura was absent from school the next few days. There were some legal things that still needed to be done according to Akefia, so Ryo walked to school and home by himself for those few days.

By Wednesday he had even decided to keep the little kitten he had found, mostly because no one else could take her in. The task of naming her had been given to Anzu, though, and she’d quickly settled on Yuki.

So now it was Wednesday afternoon and he met up with the others at the train station. Their faces held a certain light to them, a small smile ever present as they joked and laughed.

Yugi was doing most of the talking, the main topic being his cousins, while everyone offered a comment every now and then or simply laughed at one of the stories.

The one that genuinely made Ryo laugh was how one of them used to dress up as a pharaoh all the time when he was younger and would always get his brother to chase after the neighbor kids, saying how they had disobeyed their king.

"Coincidentally, Atemu is studying archeology now with a focus on egyptology. I mean, I guess he'll just research them if he can't actually become a pharaoh." Yugi grinned when the group laughed again while the only other person in the train compartment shook their head at the teenagers. "Yami still doesn't know what he wants to be. Unthinkable, right?"

"I don't know either," Jonouchi said in response, hints of a laugh lingering. "He's the one who's coming because of the museum stuff?"

"Yeah. Though him and Atemu are pretty much always together, so I think he's just not willing to stay back alone." 

Ryo piped in. "By the way, dad said it's an exhibit about Egypt. The tour guides are gonna be mostly Egyptian, representing their country's history or something."

"That's cool," Anzu said from her place at the window.

"That's what I told him as well."

Otogi was about to speak when their stop was announced, pushing back his words in favor of beating Jonouchi in a race to the train doors.

Tokyo was always crowded, Ryo knew that very well, but this time of day only made it worse. They were pushed around while making their way to the next train they had to catch, almost missing it in the process. 

Thankfully they only had to ride a couple stations this time and got out of the crowded train rather quickly, but Ryo was already dreading the way back - with the addition of suitcases, he had to remind himself.

Yugi had run off to look for the plane as soon as they had entered the busy hall, leaving the group to wait and, certainly, worry about the small teenager being trampled in the crowd. 15 minutes went by until he came back, gesturing for them to follow him.

Now, airports weren’t anything new to Ryo, but he still hated how easily one could get lost in them. By the time they had gotten to what they deemed a suitable meeting point, they had lost Jonouchi _twice_, as well as Honda once.

It was almost comical at this point.

Otogi quickly began debating the idea of a leash for the two of them, resulting in an argument that, weirdly enough, evolved into whether or not Kaiba was justified in calling Jonouchi a dog. Ryo stopped listening midway through.

That’s probably why he was the first to notice a familiar person standing a bit further away from them, leaned against a wall and playing on a phone.

While he opted not to point Bakura out, Jonouchi quickly caught onto their classmate’s presence as well and in typical Jonouchi fashion, immediately started striding over. “Oi, Bakura!”

Said boy looked up from his phone with what could only be described as mortification on his face. Ryo almost felt bad for him.

“What are you doing here? Thought you didn’t want to come along,” Honda said as soon as they were close enough to hold a normal toned conversation. He looked oddly polite, nothing of the previous joking mood visible. “How did you know where to come?”

Bakura was probably debating on whether or not to answer, at least if the short silence and look were anything to go by. “I’m not here because of you.”

“Why then? People usually don’t go to the airport to spend their free time.” Jonouchi, unlike Honda, was still in a good mood and blessedly oblivious to the tense atmosphere. It seemed like Jonouchi really wanted to integrate Bakura into their group - maybe because he’d been similar before he became friends with Yugi? Who knew. "Oh, you weren't at school, did something happen?"

“I’m waiting for someone.” Bakura opted to ignore the second part, turning toward the nearest exit - Ryo wondered if it was a nervous habit of his as he had caught him looking for the nearest exit on multiple occasions.

Anzu had put on her best polite smile. “Of course he is, Jonouchi. We won’t bother you if you want to be alone, excuse him.”

“No can do, Anzu! What if someone targets him because he’s alone?” Jono immediately countered, mockingly putting his hands onto his hips.

He probably hadn’t expected Bakura to answer. “I’ll just beat them up or something. I don’t need protecting.”

Honestly, Ryo hadn’t expected him to answer, either. Especially not like this, because Bakura’s voice held an edge of amusement. If he was amused about Jono’s antics or the thought of hurting someone, Ryo wasn’t quite sure and he didn’t want to find out, so he quickly changed the topic. “Who are you waiting for?”

“An acquaintance,” he, surprisingly, answered. It took him a few seconds to remember their game.

He probably only honored their rules.

"Who knows, maybe he's waiting for Yugi's cousins as well," Otogi joked.

Bakura's face scrunched up at that. "Why the hell would I wanna do that."

"Yeah, right. If you don't know someone why would you wait for them?" Next to Ryo, Yugi had appeared, startling him when he finally spoke.

Something about Bakura's expression looked like he wanted to answer Yugi and he actually opened his mouth to do so, but someone interrupted him before he could.

That someone just happened to be screaming from across the hall and what he was screaming was simply Bakura's name. Ryo tried getting a look at the newcomer but, until he was almost already within their circle, the other people hid them from him.

On second thought, he was surprised at how loud the stranger had been. The crowd did a good job at drowning out noise, after all.

In the end, the first thing they saw of the mystery person was a bag that had been hauled towards Bakura, resulting in the ugliest expression Ryo had seen on him so far.

"Can you imagine? Someone else actually wanted to take my bag even though it looks nothing like theirs!" A tanned man had stopped in front of them, face obscured by sunglasses, of all things.

It was the middle of winter and they were inside, yet this guy still wore them. Ryo was almost impressed.

"Why the hell am I carrying your shit now," Bakura snarled, pushing the bag towards its owner. But, unlike the times Ryo had seen him annoyed or angry so far, he was… almost calm. Not the way he himself was often calm, but instead of the hot, fierce anger Bakura usually displayed, his tone held little animosity.

He sounded more resigned than anything, really.

The stranger stood with his arms crossed, refusing the bag until Bakura eventually took it back with a sigh. Then, he smiled and threw his arms around him. “Good to know you’re still the same! I was afraid you’d be all proper now.”

“I’ve been gone for maybe a month. Stop acting like it’s been years or some shit,” Bakura grumbled, though he endured the hug. He looked like he was about to kill someone while doing it, sure, but he endured without shoving the other away. “Again, why am I carrying your shit?”

“The flight was so long, I’m tired.” With that, he caught sight of their group and immediately pulled the sunglasses of his face with a surprising amount of force and speed.

His eyes were a shade of violet Ryo had never seen before, different from Yugi’s eyes by a big margin, and their odd color was only accentuated by the dramatic way he opened his eyes. The smile on his face stayed as he stared at them for the next few seconds, his gaze lingering on Ryo and eventually coming to a stop on Yugi.

Ryo could imagine that his similarity to Bakura had caused the earlier reaction, but upon seeing Yugi properly, the stranger sputtered some incomprehensible words and finally lost his smile. Upon regaining composure, he put the sunglasses into the collar of his shirt and shook his head. “What the hell, how’d you get here so fast? Where’s Atemu?”

Bakura pulled the stranger’s arm and said something in arabic, though he was most likely explaining that he had gotten the wrong person. Yugi laughed a little. “I’m not Yami. The eyes and hair are different, see?”

“Oh, true.” He turned to look at Bakura. “I suppose they did mention visiting a relative here.”

“What would I know?” Bakura responded.

“Well, turns out Bakura _does_ know Yugi’s cousins. Who’d have thought.” Honda shrugged. “What a small, small world.”

“He probably just didn’t take a closer look at you.” The stranger held out his hand toward Yugi. “Malik. Great meeting you, heard a lot already.”

Everyone took turns introducing themselves (Malik shook each of their hands, which was only mildly weird) and just as Bakura looked about ready to just strand his friend in Tokyo and leave by himself, Malik turned back to him with his hands on his hips.

“What?” Bakura asked. The usual irritation was back in his tone, though Ryo still felt it was slightly different from when he talked to other people.

“Are we getting picked up, are you driving us or are we getting on the death trap called a train?”

“You’re too young to drive,” Jono piped in.

Both of them looked at him for a second. “No shit, we can’t drive back home either.”

“Doesn’t mean that that stops us, though,” Malik amended. He grinned again. “Even if you care about the law, with enough money, it doesn’t apply to you anyways.”

“You should watch out, though. They’re pretty strict about traffic laws in Domino.” Ryo smiled. Before he could say anything else, though, Yugi began frantically waving his hands.

Upon realizing what he was doing, Otogi picked him up like a child. To respond to Yugi’s pout, he laughed. “What? Now they can actually see you.”

Although he was distracted, looking for Yugi’s cousins, Ryo could still hear Malik whispering something in Arabic. The punch and whimpering that followed were pretty clear as well, but after quickly checking to see what had happened, it was obvious Bakura had only lightly punched Malik’s shoulder.

“Ah, now I get why he thought you were one of them,” Jono said as soon as Yugi’s cousins actually came into view. And, true enough, they looked remarkably similar.

Only that one of them had a skin tone more like Yugi’s; lighter, though not actually as pale as Yugi. Other than that, the differences were slim, like different colors or the difference in height. But, if you looked only a little closer, it was quite easy to tell which ones were brothers and who was a cousin.

The taller of the two immediately went to hug Yugi, muttering some greetings along the way, while his brother only stared at Malik and Bakura. The look on his face wasn’t pleasant, but in comparison to the tone he sported, it was nothing. “Ah. The thief is here. Great.”

“Stop it, Yami.” The other cousin only inclined his head toward Bakura before turning to Malik with a faint smile. “We should have probably told you our actual destination. Now, this is just awkward.”

Malik laughed it off, almost hitting Bakura while swinging his hand around. “Whatever, I could have said something, too. Or Isis could have told me.”

“Oh, well. These are your friends, right?” He turned back to Yugi just as Yami had finished greeting their cousin. “My name is Atemu. I’ll be bothering Yugi for a while.”

Yami didn’t say anything until Atemu nudged him. “Yami. Are you actually friends with the thief?”

“What did I ever do to you?” Bakura grumbled, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

“Do you want the list alphabetically or chronologically?”

“Stop it, please.” Atemu had already put a hand onto Yami’s shoulder and, comically enough, Malik had mirrored the movement almost immediately. “Why do I have to deal with this?”

“Could be worse,” Malik hummed. “You could be dealing with Akefia or Mariku. That’d suck even more, hm?”

“It would probably end in another fight.” Yami said in lieu of his brother.

“Another?” Jono laughed a little along his words, earning him a grin from Yami.

“Yes, another. Unlike Atemu, I’ve never gotten into a fight with anyone.” Atemu sent him a pointed look, causing Yami to amend. “Alright, I’ve never fought with an Ishtar OR a Touzoku.”

Bakura, meanwhile, had turned away from the group and was looking at his phone with a look that could probably kill a person. Surprisingly enough, Jono was the one to point it out, promptly asking if something was wrong.

With his expression unchanged, Bakura turned to Malik. “We’re taking the train. Akefia’s being an ass.”

“I don’t have any money on me.”

Bakura groaned, getting his phone out to send about a million messages judging by the speed he was typing at. Meanwhile, Ryo turned to Anzu. “Didn’t we have more tickets than needed?”

“Hm?” As the designated responsible person, she quickly got their group tickets out of her purse and began counting heads. Then, with a bright smile, she looked at Bakura and Malik. “We do! We can take you on our ticket, it’s already paid for anyways so it’d just go to waste.”

Bakura looked like he was about to decline, but Malik swiftly covered his mouth with a hand. “Great! I’m sure Akefia will pay you guys back.”

“Hey!” Bakura had pushed the hand away from his mouth and was now glaring again. “Your family is loaded, why should we pay?”

“I’m your guest.”

“You’re not even staying with us.” By then, a few passerbys had started looking at them weirdly. “Fuck no, we’re not paying for you. I’ll personally tell Isis if you don’t”

“Oh well, we should probably go catch the train,” Yugi said as a way to diffuse the situation. “And you don’t have to pay it back. As Anzu said, it would have just gone to waste otherwise.”

“Thanks.” Malik smiled again and then, without another word, took off in a random direction.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> English is not my main language so, sometimes, I think of a German saying (because, surprise, I'm German) and try to find an equivalent in English. Sadly, they're never as good or poetic as the original.
> 
> For this chapter, I tried using the phrase "Sturmfrei haben" (to have storm free), which means having the house to oneself. I was pretty surprised that you don't have something like that in English because that's a pretty common expression around teenagers here xD (If you know of an English expression, please tell me!)
> 
> Well, enough with this impromptu German lesson and on with the chapter.

“The train station is this way!” Jono had already taken off, trying to reach Malik and bring him back to the group, while Bakura simply sighed in resignation.

Atemu hummed a little, shaking his head. “He never changes.”

“For fuck’s sake, someone give him a brain,” Bakura grumbled. By then, both Jono and Malik had disappeared from sight and Yugi quietly announced they’d meet with them at the station. Apparently, Jono had had the time to text.

Just as they were beginning to walk, Atemu let himself fall to the back, next to a displeased looking Bakura. Yami scoffed once, taking a spot in-between Yugi and Ryo, but otherwise ignored his brother. “So, why isn’t Akefia picking you up?” Atemu asked. His voice sounded very similar to Yami’s when he’d talked to Bakura earlier, but Ryo quickly figured out that it wasn’t disdain for Bakura himself.

Sure, Akefia wasn’t particularly _friendly_, but what had he done for Atemu to dislike him?

“He got called into work early or something. Something about taking over a shift.” Bakura buried his hands in his pockets as he walked. There was that odd sadness in his expression again, Ryo noticed as he looked back for a second.

“Ah. Sounds just like him.”

They did meet up with Jonouchi and Malik, but searching for them almost made them miss their train. The quick ride was spent in silence, besides the heavy breathing caused by all the running, so they only started speaking again when they had switched trains.

Although this line usually wasn’t frequented much, it was still crowded enough for Jono and Bakura to stand instead of sitting. Technically, Otogi should have probably stood, too, but instead he had squished himself between Honda and Malik. Ryo had ended up sitting next to a stranger, Yami and Atemu opposite of him, but although the snoring man next to him was a good source for anxiety, he declined the offer of squeezing between Anzu and Yugi.

Had they offered differently, like Anzu proposing to sit on Yugi’s lap, he would probably have taken them up on it. Maybe he should have said it - surely, Yugi would have appreciated some help regarding his obvious crush.

But, as it was now, he sat next to where Bakura was standing, Malik on the opposite side of the small hallway. Not that his odd seating shielded him from any conversation, though.

Quite the opposite, actually, as Malik had decided to wring him out for any piece of info he could think of. “Is the school uniform really mandatory? I was so happy when we stopped the homeschooling stuff and I didn’t have to wear that god awful suit anymore.”

“Uh, yeah, it’s mandatory,” Ryo answered, just loud enough to be heard. “You can take off your blazer and add some accessories, though. You’d have to ask Yugi about what’s allowed.”

Said boy perked up at the mention of his name, snapped out of his conversation with Atemu, and grinned widely. “The rule of thumb is no more than five pieces of jewelry. Oh, and no spikes, had to learn that the hard way.”

“Only five? Kura, how am I supposed to survive?” He tried grabbing onto Bakura’s arm, but was rudely shoved away with a comment about how _“his name isn’t Kura”_. Sporting the most dramatic pout Ryo had ever seen, Malik mumbled a _”rude”_ in response.

Just then, Jono sat down onto the floor of the train, whining about how his legs hurt. 

However, when faced with proposals of giving up their seats to him, he refused each one and simply sprawled out on the floor. “By the way, didn’t we wanna have a christmas party? What happened to that idea?”

“It’s been a few days, Jonouchi. It’s not like we haven’t talked about this in months,” Otogi said, an amused smile brightening his face. “Dad said I can go, but I’ll have to know when it’s over. Getting picked up and stuff, you know?”

Meanwhile, Anzu crossed her arms in front of her chest with a huff. “Jonouchi, if you’re gonna talk about this stuff in front of others, you could at least offer an invitation!”

“But it’s Yugi’s house we’re doing it at, why would I invite them?”

“Yami and I are gonna be there no matter what,” Atemu said from across the hallway. “Don’t know about Malik, but I have a feeling Bakura won’t want to go.”

“As long as there’s food, I’d love to come.” Malik grinned wide, only grinning wider when Yugi happily extended the invitation, and turned to Bakura. “You’re coming, too. I know for a fact you’re not doing anything and Akefia isn’t gonna be home anyways.”

“Why the hell would I go out if I have the place for myself for once.”

His protests were ignored, something Malik seemed to do quite a lot. “He’s coming. I’ll tell his brother, he’ll make him come.”

“That doesn’t sound… good,” Otogi said. “If he doesn’t want to, just leave him be. Don’t force him to come.”

“Bakura just doesn’t know what’s fun.” Yami had been quiet so far, watching the landscape go by, but he was now smirking in their direction. “ I mean, what do you expect when his only friend is Malik.”

“Are you asking for a fight?” Bakura was about to take a step forward, but Malik stopped him with his arm and shook his head.

Then, he looked at Yami, his face looking colder than even Bakura’s on a particularly bad day. “Yami, stop it. Remember what happened last time?”

“Just let it go,” Atemu said as well. “You’re being a dick.”

Yami huffed. “Last time? Sure, I remember, but I also remember that daddy’s not here to get you out of trouble anymore.”

“Yami. Quiet, _now_.” While Atemu had turned to face his brother, the rest of them had grown silent. Ryo could see Otogi wince and he figured he himself had also shown something on his face judging by Anzu and Yugi’s worried looks. They’d all guessed by now that Bakura’s parents were most likely no longer alive and even those of them that still had both parents knew that such a comment was a low blow.

If he were honest, Ryo had expected a full on fight after that, but Bakura remained surprisingly calm. Just as the electric voice announced their stop coming up, he put his hands into his pockets again and said with an eerily calm voice, “Well, thank fuck he’s not here, huh?”

Malik almost didn’t manage to run after him when the words had passed. He jumped up and almost had his suitcase fall onto his head when he tried getting them down, waking the stranger next to Ryo in the process, but eventually, he took off down the hall.

Turning around for one last time, he waved. “See you soon.”

With that, they were gone. Ryo tried looking for them after he parted with the others, but they must have hurried off as soon as the train had stopped and, soon enough, Ryo found himself giving up.

The next day, Ryo expected to see Malik again when picking up Bakura.

Instead, he was met with an unfamiliar head of blond spikes that had opened the door for him. Usually, Bakura would just come downstairs to meet with him, but Ryo had figured that Akefia might have buzzed him up to talk about something.

Or maybe because he was earlier than usually. But all those reasons went out the window when he looked into a pair of violet eyes.

Eyes that did look a lot like Malik’s, but definitely weren’t his.

They stood there for a good few minutes, just staring at each other, until Akefia pushed him to the side with annoyance. With that, the stranger disappeared into the living room.

“Sorry about that,” Akefia eventually said, stepping to the side and letting him in. A look at the clock made his face scrunch up. “Isn’t it a bit early?”

“Sorry if I woke you up,” Ryo answered with a bow. The man in front of him looked worse than he’d done the last few times, dark rings under his eyes just as prominent as the bruise on his chin and his split lip. “Uhm, are you okay, Akefia-san?”

The weird blond guy showed up again, hurrying past them into the kitchen while staring again. Now Ryo could also see that his left arm was in a cast, as well as some bruises littering his face and neck, matching those of Akefia. “Nothing you should worry about. The other guy looks worse.”

A bark of laughter sounded from the kitchen and, once again, the head of blond hair appeared in the hallway again. “Serves him right.”

Upon Ryo’s questioning look, Akefia amended, “Someone thought it’s a good idea to grope a coworker. We were tasked with restraining him until police showed up.”

“What the fuck happened?” Bakura asked. He’d just come out of his bedroom, hair still a mess but already in his uniform. Ryo could imagine that he had looked the same when he noticed how banged up the older one was. “Wait, I don’t wanna know. I’m leaving early, bye.”

He tried pulling Ryo out of the door after that, but Akefia grabbed him by the collar and pointed toward the kitchen. “Food money. Dinner’s in the fridge, we’ll get home late again.”

“Whatever,” Bakura mumbled, leaving for a minute to retrieve the money and then, pulling him outside again.

Bakura seemed to have finally run out of layers to add onto his winter outfit, but he was still shivering miserably. It almost made Ryo give up his own scarf, but judging by the thickness of the one he was already wearing, it probably wouldn’t have helped much anyways.

And, in his defense, Ryo was feeling pretty cold himself.

“Is Malik gonna be in our class?” He asked absent-mindedly.

“Don’t know. He’s getting the info now.”

“I assumed he’d be staying with you, but is he gonna walk to school with us?”

Bakura didn’t answer for a bit and Ryo was just about to repeat his question when he got a sigh. “His sister doesn’t like Akefia. He’s staying in an apartment near the school until she gets here.”

“Ah, alright.” Satisfied with the answer, Ryo went back to being silent.

“Not gonna ask why?”

“It’s not that I don’t want to know, but it would be rude to pry, right?” Just as Bakura was about to speak, Ryo remembered something. “Oh, I won’t be going home with you.”  
With raised eyebrows, Bakura looked over to him. “How about you tell me why and I tell you why Isis hates my brother?”

That was his own logic being used against him, but Ryo didn’t particularly mind. It’s not like he kept this a secret from his friends, either. “My sister is in the hospital. She’s been in a delicate state since we were young, so it’s hard to visit regularly.”

“That sucks.” The gate came into view and with it, Yugi and Anzu. “You saw Mariku earlier, right? He’s the reason. Akefia is friends with him and so he’s disliked by association.”

“That seems a bit harsh.”

“You don’t know who Mariku is,” Bakura said. “Long story short, he’s pretty insane. Malik can tell you more though.”

Ryo was just about to ask why, but it seems Bakura had already guessed his question.

“For one, they’re cousins and also, Malik is willing to talk about this stuff. I’m not. I said I'll tell you the reason, not the story.”

~

Malik joined their class in the end, decked out in gold jewelry and a good amount of make-up.

The teacher next to him frowned, but he allowed him to introduce himself and attend class without much of a comment. Until lunch, Malik was told to reduce his jewelry by about 80%. At least.

When lunch finally came around, he pulled Bakura up onto the roof with the rest of the group and quickly began devouring the bits and pieces Bakura was willing to give him as he had apparently forgotten his own lunch and money.

The atmosphere was a little tense with Bakura glaring at Malik, not doing much else other than eating. Jonouchi still tried to include him in their conversations, but he'd either get a one word response or quickly realized Bakura wasn't interested in the topic.

Malik was the complete opposite. Even on topics he didn't know much about or didn't care for, he'd nod along to keep the conversation going. It seemed like he disliked silence.

"Ryo, do you maybe have time later?" Jono had suddenly turned to him, pointing chopsticks and sporting a grin. "Apparently we have a math test tomorrow. I didn't study."

"I could help you," Yugi offered with a hum. "Yami said he was pretty good at math, too, so if there's anything we don't get we can just ask him. Though if Ryo does come, I feel like we won't need any other help."

A smile crept onto Ryo's face at the compliments, but he lightly shook his head as he put his own lunch away. "I'm visiting Amane today, sorry."

"Ah, too bad." Jono flipped himself over so he was laying on the floor instead of sitting up, smiling at Ryo. "Have fun. Tell her to get well soon, Shizuka wants to invite her to her birthday party."

"I'll just say Shizuka misses her," he chuckled. "You're speaking with your sister again?"

"Mhm. Mom got some wind of what's going on with dad and, look at that, she's worried!" Jonouchi's parents had always been a sore spot for him, especially combined with his sister. "Didn't know she actually still saw me as her son. She's agreed to pay for an apartment for me if it gets too bad and shit."

"That's improvement! Will you take her up on that offer?" Anzu looked at him, her eyes giving away that really, she expected there to be a very specific answer and none other.

"Look, I'm happy she cares about me, but I don't know. It took her over 10 years to come to the conclusion that the guy she left because of his drinking and aggression problems might be abusing her son. Why now?"

"If you don't want to do it for her sake, do it for your own." Otogi had long finished his lunch, moving to put an arm around Jonouchi. "Look at it like this: you can get so much money out of her for all the years she treated you like nothing. Plus you get away from that jerk."

Malik chose that moment to nudge Ryo's side, speaking in a hushed voice as the conversation went on beside them. "What up with his parents?"

"Not really my place to say," he whispered back. "Sorry."

"Don't worry, you've got nothing to apologize for." Malik shot a glance toward Bakura, who was sitting with his back to him. "We know a thing or two about shitty parents so I'm not gonna pry."

"Sorry you had to make those experiences." Ryo apologized more out of instinct, but the sentiment was true - besides maybe Anzu, who in their little group actually had a standard family? It was easy to sympathize.

As was quickly becoming a habit, Malik grinned wide in response. "You apologize to much. Why say sorry if you didn't do anything wrong?"

"That's his way of saying he feels ya," Jonouchi said, butting in on their talk. He was sporting a similar grin. "Ryo's a sweet one so he says it a lot. But only to us, the rest of the world only gets a bit of his politeness."

"Very poetic, Jono." With a shake of his head, Honda grinned as well. "Didn't know you had enough brain power to come up with that."


End file.
